Games such as poker, baccarat, and blackjack use playing cards that have been randomized. Historically, playing cards were manually shuffled by a dealer or a player. Most casinos or other gaming establishments currently employ the use of mechanical automatic shufflers to randomize the cards. Automatic shufflers generally provide a higher level of randomization and security against cheating or mistakes compared to manual shuffling. However, players and dealers have been known to cheat or make mistakes that may lead to one or more improper or unauthorized cards being introduced into a set of cards used in a particular game. For example, cards from another set may be inadvertently mixed with a set of cards being used, or a cheating player may attempt to introduce a card that is advantageous to the cheating player into the set of cards being used. Thus, true randomization of the cards may be compromised and the cheating player may gain an advantage. Even if the unauthorized card is introduced into a set of cards by mistake, the fairness of the game may be reduced. Various security measures have been implemented to reduce the occurrence of such mistakes and cheating.
For example, prior known playing cards have been provided with enhanced security features. In one example, a transponder is positioned within the card body and is encoded with permanent read-only identification information as well as a data bank for receiving and maintaining changeable information transmitted thereto from an RF antenna, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,221,244, filed Nov. 14, 2008, titled “Table with Sensors and Smart Card Holder for Automated Gaming System and Gaming Cards” (hereinafter “the '244 patent”). The changeable information may include a transactional history of the card during a game, to reduce disputes regarding the history of a game and/or reduce various types of fraud and/or mistakes.